George t



(No Model.)

G. T. CHAPMAN.

HEEL EXPANDER FOR HORSES.

No. 445,463. Patented J44. 27, 1891.

FILE -2 WITNESSES INVENTSS= THE Hams PtTERS co., momumo wwnmnrou o c NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE T. CHAPMAN, OF IVHITE PLAINS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO \VM. HARVEY MERRITT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

HEEL-EXPANDER FOR HORSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 445,463, dated January 27, 1891.

Application filed May 29, 1890. Serial No. 353,537. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE T. CHAPMAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of White Plains, in the county of VVestohester, State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Ileel-Expanders for Horses, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists of an improved form of spring for application to the feet of horses for wear with the shoe for producing an expanding or spreading effect on contracted heels for gradually restoring them to proper shape, as hereinafter fully described, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved spring. Fig. 2 is a section of the spring, taken in the longitudinal center of the spring on line woo, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 isa transverse section of the spring on line y 1 Fig. 1.. Fig. 4 is a plan view of a shod foot inverted with my improved spring applied. Fig. 5 is a rear elevation of part of a hoof, showing the application of the spring.

I make a lyre-shaped spring a of a thin flat steel bar widest at the middle and tapering each way therefrom to the ends, which terminate in the outwardly and upwardly bent points I), said bar being bent edgewise, and also being concave on the upper side and convex on the lower side to the plane of the entire spring, as shown by the sectional views, and the length and breadth of the spring when bent into the required shape being such that when it is in the position for use, which is with the points Z), engaging in the clefts cl of the heel of the boot, the sides and front of the spring will overlap the upper innor edge of the shoe, so as to enter the space between the inner edge of the shoe and the sole of the foot sufficiently to be kept in position by the shoe. The heel-points b are projected upwardly of the heel at a suitable distance above the bottom from the plane of the rest of the spring to engage the walls of the hoof above the surface of the shoe.

The spring is to be gaged, so that the heelpoints have to be sprung toward each other to some extentto be entered between the heels, and when released will pres them outward with the desired force for subjecting the heels to the proper tension for effecting gradual expansion of the heel.

The spring is in general substantially like other springs that have been used for the same purpose, and I do not claim it broadly. My improvement lies in the thin flat tapered bar bent edgewise and having the concavoconvex or oblique pitch at the cross-section to the plane of the whole, the advantages of which are that the bar will bend in this form with less destructive effect on the metal than when bent directly edgewise, thus enabling greater efficiency, and with a given quantity of metal, which it is d sirable should be as light as is consistent with the strength required, the spring has much larger range and more uniform action.

I claim 1. The lyre-shaped heel expanding spring consisting of the thin flat bar widest, at the middle and gradually tapered to the ends and having the pitch in the cross-section of the bar oblique to the plane of the entire spring, substantially as described.

2. The lyre-shaped heel-expanding spring consisting of the thin flat-bar widest at the middle and gradually tapered to and upturned and outwardly projecting at the ends and having the pitch of the cross-section of the bar oblique to the plane of the entire spring, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name, in presence of two witnesses, this 26th day of April, 1890.

GEO. T. QHAPMAN.

\Vitnesses: i

W. J. MORGAN, W. B. EARLL. 

